Lilly Pilly pest/disease?

[Mickeyjaytee]

Hey guys n gals,

So I figured we’re probably all keen gardeners so thought I’d ask here. This year my Lilly pilly hedge is displaying signs of a pest/disease. The hedge is about 4 years old and it has only developed this issue about 1 month ago. It seems to only be affecting new growth.

Does anyone know what it is and what treatment I can give them? I looked up pests and while there is a Lilly pilly pest that curls the leaf, it also creates blotches etc which mine don’t have.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mickeyjaytee]

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a good Christmas. While I never had an answer to this problem, I’ve noticed my new callistemon viminalis “captain cook” has something similar if not, the same. Does anyone know what could be doing this? New growth only affected and the leaves curl up from the middle of the leaf. You can see little bumps along the affected growth.

Personally I think thrips due to the little buggers always attacking my melaleuca rhaps and, rhaps growing in their natural habitat 100 metres away and also getting affected.

I couldn’t find any info on Lilly pillies getting thrips but, I did see that callistemon can get them.

Does anyone know what this pest/disease is exactly? It’s doing my head in and I want them dead and gone!

[Redsonic]

There is a tiny caterpillar that attacks new growth on Callistemon/Melaleuca. They move quickly when disturbed, so can be a bit hard to find. Look down at the base of the leaves, & uncurl a few. It looks like you have a pretty good camera, so take some photos at the same time and you can look for thrips too.

[Mickeyjaytee]

Thanks for the reply! I couldn’t see any caterpillars or any other bugs I did notice another plant however, has the beginnings of the leaf curl. I flipped a few leaves over and did see what I think was a thrip. I can’t upload videos here unfortunately. Pretty sure that’s what it is as to my rhaps get attacked by them every year so I’ve given them a spray and am gonna hope for the best

Thanks again